National

Sequestration resulted in automatic cutbacks to several government programs. Many families that rely on Head Start to care for and educate young children have been forced to make other plans. Host Michel Martin speaks with a Head Start teacher in Kansas and NPR Education Correspondent Claudio Sanchez, about how programs have been affected.

The world's largest tunnel boring machine in a few months will begin digging a new double-decker highway tunnel under downtown Seattle. If all goes according to plan, Bertha will start digging this summer. It'll emerge again late next year on the other side of downtown, not far from the Space Needle.

Being the first person to set foot on the moon would make anyone's heart skip a beat, but not apparently Neil Armstrong. The printout of the Apollo 11 astronaut's heart rate as he first stepped onto the surface of the moon in 1969 shows some fairly steady beats.

The Pennsylvania Dutch didn't invent the whoopie pie and other dubious tourist fare. Instead, they developed a complex, largely unknown cuisine that reflects the pressures and possibilities of becoming American.

Courts are handing down lesser punishments to those who hide money offshore than they are to more mundane tax evaders. In many cases, sentences were shorter than what federal sentencing guidelines provide for.

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